Fremont Peak State Park
MVP:
iPhone 12 mini—Gaia GPS’s trail map was wildly inaccurate, so I was so glad I had remembered to bring a PDF version of the park map on my phone. It was also pretty inaccurate, but at least I didn’t get lost.
Hike Review:
This was taken on the Carmen Trail. Can you spot where the trail is?
Cold Springs Trail, Tonys Trail, and Carmen Trail are overgrown, narrow trails that I would not recommend to anyone. The spiky plants lining the trail made the walk annoying (as I constantly had to take bits of plant that stuck to my socks every few feet) and especially on Tony/Carmen, the trail could be very difficult to find. It doesn’t help that Gaia GPS’s trail is wildly inaccurate.
Peaks Trail, however, was beautiful and well maintained. I would recommend just visiting Fremont Peak as you get all the views and the other trails in this park are just not worth it.
There was some shade on the trail, but it’s mostly exposed.
I only met others on the Peak Trail.
The view from the top of Fremont Peak was stunning, especially at sunset. To get to the very top, there are some Class 2 scrambling, but nothing too sketchy. It looks worse than it really is.
I had varying degrees of T-Mobile signal almost the whole time I was hiking.
What I Learned:
I was disappointed at how inaccurate Gaia GPS’s trail map was. I was so convinced that it was right, that I started off the hike following what I thought was a poorly travelled trail, only to discover that I was probably following a deer or a wildlife trail.
There were lots of bugs on the Cold Springs and Carmen trails. So much so that on Cold Springs, I swallowed a bug :(
The signage at this park was disappointing and it led to not much confidence when choosing which way to go at trail intersections.
Media Consumed:
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Friends Made:
Daniel from Salinas
What Happened?
3.5 miles, 2 hrs 34 mins, 893 ft of ascent
Ever since I read East of Eden, I wanted to explore Fremont Peak. I finally made it up and decided to hike the various trails around the park before going up to the peak itself.
Due to the terrible signage and hard-to-follow trails, I didn’t enjoy the hiking experience at this park. I was pretty disappointed when I started the ascent to Fremont Peak, but found the Peak Trail to be nicely maintained with beautiful views. When I made it up to the peak itself, I was more than impressed by the spectacular views of the sunset. At the peak, I had a great conversation with the other fella that was already there (Daniel) and that made the time fly. I started down the peak before the sun actually set, as the park closes at sunset and I didn’t want to inconvenience the park ranger.
Given how easy the Peak Trail is and how pretty the views are, I can see myself coming back to this park. Just a heads up though, the road to get up to this park (San Juan Canyon Road) is narrow, twisty, and dark at night.